Dugong Found Dead In The Waters Of Morotai Island

AMBON - A dugong or dugong was found dead in the waters about 40 meters from the coast of Juanga Village, South Morotai District, Morotai Island Regency, North Maluku.

Coordinator of the Morotai Marine and Fisheries Resources Monitoring Unit, Sunapit M. Taher, said a fisherman named Usman Turangan found the dugong when he returned from fishing.

The fisherman, according to him, then pulled the carcass of a male dugong with a body length of about three meters to the beach.

"The condition of the dugong is that there are no injuries caused by intentional human or predatory animals. There are only two scratches and abrasions during the evacuation," he said, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, March 22.

Officers have buried the carcass of the dugong in the coastal area.

According to information published on the official website of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the dugong (Dugong dugon) or better known as the dugong is one of the rare marine mammals that live in tropical waters.

In Indonesia, dugongs are scattered in areas such as Papua, West Papua, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Sumatra, Maluku, northwest and southeast Java, the south coast of East Java, and the south coast of Kalimantan.

Environmental damage, hunting, and a slow reproduction process have caused dugongs to become rare.

Dugong is a protected animal in Indonesia and the International Union for Conservation of Nature includes the dugong in a group of species that are vulnerable to extinction. In addition, the dugong is a species that is prohibited from being traded.